Working with Automations

How do I start an automation from a template?

Templates in Automation Studio are pre-built automations for processes most HR teams run. Starting from a template is faster than building an automation from scratch, and it shows you how a well-formed automation is put together.

To start an automation from a template:

1. Open Automation Studio and go to the Templates tab.
2. Select a template to see what it does and which steps it contains.
3. Choose to use it. A copy is created as a draft in your organisation.
4. Review it, edit it, and publish it.

A template copy is fully yours. Changing it doesn't affect the original template, and future changes Simployer makes to the template won't reach your copy.

Important: Always change these three things before you activate a template:

• Scope — templates ship without one, so they would otherwise apply to everyone.
• Message and task text — the default text is generic and will read as generic to your employees.
• Timings — a template might send a reminder seven days ahead, but your process might need fourteen.

How do I build an automation from scratch?

Build an automation from scratch in Automation Studio when no template fits your process.

To build an automation from scratch:

1. Click the New Automation button in the top right corner of Automation Studio and create a new automation.
2. Name it so another admin understands what it does without opening it.
3. Set the trigger. This is the first node, and every automation has exactly one trigger.
4. Set the scope to narrow who the automation applies to.
5. Add nodes in the order you want them to run, connecting each node to the previous one.
6. Publish the automation.

Tip: Keep a process to one automation with waits between steps, rather than splitting it across several automations that hand off to each other. One automation is easier to read, easier to test, and shows you the whole process in one view. Only split a process into separate automations when two parts genuinely start from different trigger events.

What states can an automation be in?

An automation in Automation Studio is always in one of four states: draft, active, paused, or archived. The sections below explain how to move an automation between these states.

How do I publish an automation?

Publishing switches an automation to active. From that point, it reacts to events as they happen.

Note: Publishing is not retroactive. Events that happened before you published the automation won't produce runs.

How do I pause an automation?

Pausing an automation stops it reacting to new events. No new runs are created.

Important: Runs already in progress keep going. Pausing doesn't touch them: tasks they create still appear, notifications they send still go out, and steps scheduled for a future date still fire. Pausing prevents new people from entering the process; it doesn't remove anyone already in it.

If an automation is doing something wrong, pausing it is the right first move because it stops the problem from spreading. You still need to check the runs already underway and deal with them separately.

How do I resume a paused automation?

Resuming a paused automation publishes it again, and it starts reacting to events as they happen.

Note: Resuming doesn't catch up. Events that occurred while the automation was paused won't produce runs retroactively.

How do I edit a published automation?

Editing a published automation creates a new version. Runs already in progress continue on the version they started on, so a change you make today won't alter a process that's already halfway through for someone. New runs use the new version.

This means edits are safe but delayed: you won't see the effect of a change until the next run starts.

Important: There's no way to move an in-progress run onto a new version. Pausing the automation won't do it, because paused runs continue unchanged. If a run that's already underway is doing something you need to stop, you have to deal with that run directly, or archive the automation, which cancels every run in progress.

Before you edit a live automation

• Check whether runs are currently in progress, and accept that they'll finish on the old version.
• Make one change at a time where you can. If you publish several changes together and something breaks, you won't know which change caused it.

How do I archive an automation?

Archiving retires an automation you no longer need. When you archive an automation:

• No new runs are created, ever.
• Every run in progress is cancelled and moved to the History tab. Remaining steps don't execute: scheduled tasks aren't created, and pending notifications aren't sent.

Important: Archiving is one-way. You cannot un-archive an automation. If you need the process back, you have to build it again, so if there's any chance you'll want it later, pause the automation instead of archiving it.

An archived automation can be deleted.

Should I pause or archive an automation?

• Pause an automation when you intend to switch it back on, for example while you investigate a problem or during a seasonal gap. Runs already in progress continue.
• Archive an automation when the process is finished with. Runs already in progress are cancelled, and there's no way back.

If you're not sure, pause the automation. Pausing is reversible; archiving isn't.

How do I check what an automation did?

Open an automation in Automation Studio and look at its runs. Each run is one execution for one employee, and shows:

• Which employee it ran for
• When it started and whether it finished
• Which nodes ran, in order, and what each one did
• Anything that failed, and why
• Anything still waiting — a step scheduled for a future date shows as pending

Use the run history to answer questions such as: did the manager actually get the task, or why did two employees get this automation and not a third.

Tip: Check the run history after the first real run of any new automation. This is the fastest way to catch a mistake while only one employee has been affected.

Why didn't my automation work as expected?

The automation didn't run at all

1. Check whether the automation is active. A draft does nothing.
2. Confirm the trigger event actually happened. Check the employee's record. If the automation triggers on a field change, confirm the field changed, and that it changed after the automation was activated.
3. Confirm the employee falls inside the automation's scope. Check their department, office, and team against your scope settings.
4. Check the run history. If there's no run at all, the problem is with the trigger or the scope. If there's a run that failed immediately, the problem is with the automation's configuration.

The automation ran, but skipped some employees

This is almost always a scope problem. Compare the employees who received the automation with those who didn't, and look for the field or setting that differs between them. A missing or empty field, such as no department set or no manager assigned, is the usual cause.

A task went to the wrong person

Open the node and check how the assignee is set. Where the assignee is set to a role rather than a named person, such as "the employee's manager," the automation resolves that role at the moment it runs, using the employee's record at that time. If the manager field is wrong, empty, or was changed after the run started, the task follows what's in the record.

A notification wasn't received

1. Check the run history to confirm the automation sent the notification. If it did, the problem is with delivery, not with Automation Studio.
2. Confirm the recipient's contact details in their employee record.
3. Ask the recipient to check their spam folder and email filters.